


Five People

by fandomsandxfiles



Series: Peggysous and Agent Carter [7]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, F/M, I cried writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsandxfiles/pseuds/fandomsandxfiles
Summary: After you die, you are met by five people, five people who illuminate your life and the connections you made during it.These are Peggy's five.
Relationships: Michael Carter & Peggy Carter, Peggy Carter & Colleen O'Brien, Peggy Carter & Howard Stark, Peggy Carter & Jack Thompson, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa
Series: Peggysous and Agent Carter [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892692
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off my favorite book right now- the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom 
> 
> it's a really good read and it's absolutely worth it

Peggy opened her eyes and looked around, blinking in the sunlight. She was sitting on a chair in a backyard. But she knew this backyard, it was the one she played in, where she dug in the ground at the displeasure of her mother, and ran around saving the day in her imagination. She hadn't been back to England in years, not since her mother died in '53. Yet the garden didn't look any different to her, as if she was seven years old again. 

The next thing she realized was that she was sitting, something she hadn't done for quite some time. She lifted her hand up and stared at it, but saw no difference. Yet her pain was gone. She felt new, with no stress on her joints or worries in her brain. Tentatively, she stood up and took a few steps, smiling at the feeling of it again. 

She laughed, but no sound came out of her mouth. She didn't know where she truly was or why it looked like her childhood backyard, but she didn't really care. She took another step, and then another, and soon she was running in circles through the grass, barefoot. 

And then she heard a voice. "It's about time you arrived." 

She knew that voice. She hadn't heard that voice in so long, but the person who owned it never left her thoughts. "Michael," she breathed out, stopping to stare at him. He looked the same as the day he'd left for the war, wearing his military dress outfit, the same kind smile on his face. Her voice sounded different, like the one of a woman much younger than she. 

Her brother only smiled. "Hi Peggy. Guess I've got some explaining to do." 

***

It was easy for Peggy to come to terms with the fact that she was dead. She had always been a rational person, and she had known for a while that she was on a downward spiral. What she couldn't understand though, was why she was seeing Michael again. And why heaven looked like her childhood backyard. 

"You're wondering why you're here, aren't you?" Michael said, as if he was reading her mind. "Why you would end up back here when all you ever wanted since you were a little girl was to escape here, to see the world."

Peggy nodded, still not sure of the answer. "I dreamed of seeing the world, of slaying the dragon and saving the princess. Did I really never leave here?" 

"Peggy, you have done everything you wanted, and that little girl, the one who ran around in a homemade cape, she would be amazed at what you did." 

"So why am I here?" 

"Peggy, don't you see? This isn't your heaven. It's mine." 

"What?" Peggy was stunned. 

"I'm only the first, Peggy," Michael said, a small smile on his face. 

"The first of what?" 

"When you die, you meet five people," he said. "You could have known them, you could have never seen them before. But each of those people were in your life for a reason. And they guide you. You'll get a glimpse of their heaven, learn about your life in their eyes." 

"And then..." Peggy trailed off. 

"And then you reach your own heaven. There's no way you can predict what it is, but you'll know. And then you'll be one of the five for someone else."

"Why is this your heaven?" she asked softly, looking around. 

"Because when I was fighting, I dreamed of being back here every night. The horrors I'd seen, they were taking a toll on me," he said. "I dreamed of being ten years old again, and my biggest worry in the world being whether or not it was going to rain so I could go outside and play." 

Peggy smiled. "You wanted to forget." 

"I suppose you'd like to forget as well. I watched you go from the front lines to the SSR, and then to SHIELD, and you saw some of the worst in people. It's not exactly something you look back on fondly."

Her mind flashed through the memories, of seeing the people at the movie theater that ripped each other apart, seeing the thirst for blood and power Whitney Frost developed under the influence of Zero Matter, the men of the Arena Club sitting back and watching the world suffer to enhance their own riches. She saw her own agency poisoned by HYDRA, her friends killed without hesitation by parties unknown. And it soon made sense, why this was Michael's heaven. The childlike wonder that she felt when she first opened her eyes, the weights that were lifted from her shoulders. And she looked at Micheal, she knew he understood. "What is this supposed to tell you about me?" she asked quietly, a tear forming in her eye. 

"That you have been the same since you were a little girl," he said kindly. "That you were meant to fight, and you made the world a slightly better place on the way."

Peggy stood up and turned around, taking in the view of the yard she knew so well, stopping to stare at the tree in the garden, where she used to climb and sit on the bough, looking out at the world. "Micheal, what-" she started to say as she turned around, only to realize that her brother was nowhere to be seen.


	2. Friends

When Peggy opened her eyes again, she was sitting in a movie theater. The lights were on and the room was empty. Peggy didn't recognize this place. Michael said she might now know every one of her five people. She wondered who this person was, and why a movie theater is heaven for them. 

She felt a little older this time around, not as young and free as she was in Michael's garden heaven. There were worries in the back of her mind, ones she couldn't pick out. She wondered where in her life this next person would take her to, and what she would learn. 

The door to the theater opened, and in walked a face Peggy didn't ever expect to see again. "Colleen," she said, shocked. 

"Hi Peggy," the blonde smiled. "I was hoping it would be you. What number am I to you?" 

Peggy thought back to what Michael told her, about everyone meeting five people. "Two," Peggy said. "My brother was first." 

"My brother was my first person as well," she said, smiling. "It helped ease the shock of realizing what had happened to me." 

"Colleen, I'm so sorry," Peggy said, looking down at the floor. "It was my fault you died, and you have every right to hate me." 

"Peg, last I checked you weren't the one who pulled the trigger, so it was not your fault. There was nothing you could do." 

"But you, you weren't part of that life," Peggy said softly. "I robbed you of the rest of your life just by becoming your roommate." 

"You couldn't exactly tell me that when you moved in," she said. "You had to maintain a level of secrecy. Don't blame yourself for things you can't control. I've had seventy years to make my peace with dying, and I'm not going to start blaming you now." 

"Colleen," Peggy said. "I never forgot you. I still feel terrible." 

"It's not so bad here," was the answer. "The theater plays any film I want, and I'm never bored." Peggy didn't answer that, and Colleen laughed. "You're wondering what this is supposed to mean for you," she said. "What speaking to me is going to teach you about your life." 

"So far, the only thing that this has accomplished is making me feel bad that I got you killed," Peggy said quietly. 

"Peggy, you're seeing me again because you need to realize how many lives you've touched, in a positive way," Colleen said before Peggy could protest. "Before I met you, I didn't have much to look forward to every day, but when we started living together, going out occasionally when your schedule allowed, it made my life a lot better. I knew that I could always go to you for advice, or convince you to go on a double date with me if I needed, and I trusted you Peggy, completely. And I didn't know the truth behind the life you led back then, but if I did, it would have amazed me."

"I didn't do that much in my life," Peggy protested. "So many others-"

"No Peggy, you did," Colleen said, cutting her off. "Before we met, you had fought in the war, something few women did at all. And then after, you continued to prove yourself and save the world at a top secret government agency hidden in the New York Bell Company Building! And after that one got shut down, you created your own top secret government agency! I watched some of your life, Peggy, that's how I guessed that you would be the one I get to guide when you arrived. Your life on the big screen of the theater, Peggy it was like a movie, only I could believe every second of it because I knew how strong you were." 

Peggy didn't answer, still taking in everything Colleen had said. "But-" 

"No, no buts." Colleen liked cutting Peggy off, she did remember that. "That's why you're here in my heaven Peggy, whether you see it or not. To understand the friendships you've forged in your life, and how those have made you infinitely stronger." 

That Peggy could understand. She thought back to those who she had grown close to in life: Edwin and Ana Jarvis, Howard Stark, Angie Martinelli, Jason Wilkes, Rose Roberts, Hank Pym, Nick Fury, and so many others that she worked with in both the SSR and SHIELD. "Take a moment to think about them," Colleen said. "I'll be here." 

But like with Michael, when Peggy looked back towards her to offer her thanks, she too had disappeared. And like last time in the garden, her eyes started to feel heavy, and Peggy fell back asleep in the empty movie theater. 


	3. Work

The third place Peggy wakes is the SSR. She feels older than when she awoke at the movie theater, but still young compared to the old woman she was when she died. She was standing in the middle of the bullpen, and like every other place she's been, it was empty. She wondered who she would be seeing this time. So far, the last two people who acted as her guides knew her personally, so she was expecting not to be familiar with the next person. Maybe they were an agent at the same time Peggy was and didn't interact with her that much, or worked in the SSR at Peggy's desk after she officially transferred to the Los Angeles office. 

Waiting for whoever her next person was to appear, she looked out the window. It was the same view she remembered, the same view she saw every day for two years. She didn't return to New York City to work until SHIELD was out of it's infancy as an organization, but she knew this view. That's when she heard the voice of the next person. "Marge, you gonna keep staring out that window forever or are you gonna say hi?" 

Peggy whipped around and stared at him. Jack Thompson was standing in the doorway of the chief's office, an easy smile on his face. 

"Jack?" Peggy was dumbfounded. "This is your heaven?" 

"I always was a workaholic wasn't I?" he laughed. "You look surprised." 

"No I'm not," Peggy defended. "It's just I wasn't expecting-" 

"You weren't expecting to see me? I'm hurt Peggy, I really am. Who did you think it was going to be?" 

"Well, I thought maybe it would be Chief Dooley," Peggy admitted quietly. "Or another agent that I didn't know that well. I was told that there was the possibility that I could come across someone I did not know personally in life, and that hasn't happened to me yet." 

"Well consider yourself lucky," Jack answered. "Or not-so lucky, because you're stuck with me." 

"You died because of me though," Peggy said quietly. "The file that you died for, it was the one you used to try and stop me, all those years ago, during the Isodyne case." 

"Peggy," Jack said before she could add anything else. She stopped and stared at him, because he very rarely used her nickname when speaking to her, instead opting for "Marge," or "Carter." He took a few steps towards her. "What happened to me was not your fault." 

"But Jack, if you didn't have that file-" 

"It was my mistake to believe the garbage that Vernon was telling me about you. I got what was coming to me, that's all. And I've had about seventy years to come to terms with the facts." 

"What was it like for you?" Peggy asked. "The five people, I mean." 

"Dooley was one of my five," he said. "I got a reckoning and a half for dying the way I did, but he said he was proud of me. Some of the others weren't so playful." 

"Did you meet-" Peggy almost didn't want to say it. 

"Yeah I did," he said, knowing immediately what Peggy was hinting at. "Or one of them at least. It was difficult enough to come to terms with what I did so long ago, that I took human lives that weren't mine to take. And however much I thought I suffered after the war, it was nothing compared to the feeling of having to look one of those men in the eye, knowing it was I who ended his life." 

"Jack," Peggy said gently. "I'm sorry." 

"And he wasn't even angry about it, that was the worst part," Jack said quietly. "When I woke up, I was sitting in his house. There's no language barrier in here, so we were able to speak. When I realized who he was, I fully expected him to take out a gun and shoot me again, but he didn't. He understood. All he asked for was my side of the story." 

"And did you tell him?" 

"Everything. And he listened the whole time. He said that it wasn't my decision who gets and doesn't get medals, and that he didn't blame me. He would have done the same thing." 

"Jack," Peggy said quietly. "If I might ask, why is this your heaven? You saw nothing but bloodshed through the war, and then later we witnessed horrible things at the SSR." 

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know," he said. "But I know that I felt a special connection to the SSR because it took me in. After the war, after what I'd done, I felt empty. I couldn't talk to anyone, because not even my friends who served would understand what I felt, what I did. But then my dad got me the job at the SSR, and I felt at home. I was just like everyone else, and I could hide behind my work. When I was promoted to Chief, I almost didn't take it. I liked just being an agent. But I wanted to pay my dues, prove that I deserved to be there, to be alive." 

"You saw your work at the SSR as a form of penance for what you'd done during the war," Peggy said, finishing his thought. 

"I thought that if I could put away the people who actually deserved it, I could come to terms with what I did and stop hating myself for it. To me, the SSR represents hope. I guess that's why I can't let it go, even after death." 

"And you've been here since you died?" 

"After I met my five people, yeah. It's not as lonely as it looks to you," Jack said. "I watched some of your life, well not watched exactly. But some of the cases you solved would appear on my desk, and I would read through them. You did amazing things in your life Peggy, you and Sousa both. Sometimes I just wish I lived long enough to experience it with you two." 

Daniel. Peggy hoped that he would be one of the people still waiting to speak to her. He had died in 1975, in a car accident. Up until then, they lived in happiness. "I think I speak for Daniel as well when I say that we would have liked you to have been there with us for a lot of things," she said. 

"Thanks Marge." 

"Have I seen what I was supposed to see?" Peggy asked. "The last two times I spoke to someone, they just disappeared when they felt I had learned what they were meant to show me." 

"Not yet Marge," Jack said. "Your view of the SSR and what you did is different from mine. You saw the world change much more than I ever did, and you saw the ugliness of humanity grow. I'm here to tell you that not all of that ugliness permeated the world. It's a little ironic I guess, considering what I've done in my life, but it's true. You did good things Peggy, in founding SHIELD. It's not your fault what happened the organization." 

"But Jack, it is my-" Peggy started to say, before she realized that she could no longer see him. "Jack?" 

But no answer came, and Peggy was alone once again. 


	4. Love

Peggy immediately knew where she was when she woke up in the next place. She looked around frantically, waiting for the person she wanted to speak to more than anything to appear. 

But no one greeted her. 

Could she have gotten this wrong? She didn't think so, she knew this sitting room, she knew this house. It was the house that she spent so much time in, the house that so much of her life happened in. She knew, because she had tried to get Daniel to sell it for years after they began SHIELD, but he said he wouldn't because of it's sentimental value. They finally did end up selling it and moving back to New York, but if Daniel had gotten his way, they might have lived there forever. 

Daniel had died about 40 years prior to Peggy, in a car accident. It wasn't his fault either, that's what made it so much worse. Peggy remembered the pain and the sorrow; she felt like it happened yesterday. 

And this was their house, originally his house, so why wasn't he here? Why wasn't anyone here? Peggy paced the sitting room, waiting for someone to say something. And after what felt like ages, her hopes were answered. 

"Hey Peg," Daniel's voice said. Peggy's head shot up and she immediately smiled at the sight of him. He looked exactly the same as the last time she saw him. Tears immediately started to fall from her eyes. 

"Daniel," she said softly. "I never thought I'd see you again." 

"Well, thank goodness for heaven then," Daniel said with a smile. 

"How long have you been here?" 

"About 40 odd years," Daniel said. "I can't believe I missed out on the invention of the internet, we could have definitely used that at work." 

Peggy smiled. Only Daniel could make jokes about missing out on things because he died. "I missed you, so much."

"I don't think I can ever express how much I missed you Peggy," he said. "I hoped that I would be one of your five." 

"What happens after I meet my five people?" Peggy asked. She didn't want to separate from Daniel again, ever. 

"You reach your own heaven," Daniel said. "Or a part of it anyway. And there you wait, for a person who you will help guide after their own death." 

"But what about after that? What's going to happen to you? To everyone else I spoke to before?" 

"I don't know," Daniel answered. "It's impossible to know what will happen after you fulfill your job as a guide." 

That was the answer Peggy was expecting, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "So why is this your heaven?" she asked, looking around. Daniel had died in 1975, and by then they had moved back to New York. Yet the house looked exactly as it did after their wedding in 1951. The same decor, the old radio that barely worked yet they never actually got around to replacing, the front door that was a little splintered from the time Jack had to break into their house because the SSR caught a lead on a really important case and they weren't answering the phone. 

"This was the first thing I bought for a reason I think," Daniel said. "I had an apartment in New York, sure, but when I moved out to LA all those years ago, I bought a house because I knew I wanted to ground myself somewhere. And then when this became not just my house but our home, that's when it truly became my heaven." 

Peggy was silent, staring at Daniel and trying her hardest not to cry. "Daniel," she said softly. 

"You feel bad now, for nagging me about the house, don't you?" he asked, smiling. Peggy nodded. "No, that's part of what made it home though. Yeah, we probably should have moved out of the house long before we actually did, but something in me just couldn't let it go. It was just part of the charm." 

"What are you here to tell me?" Peggy asked. "What aspect of my life?" 

"I'm actually here to scold you, actually," Daniel said. "You never found anyone else?" 

"No," Peggy said, shaking her head. "I didn't think anyone could ever mean as much to me as you did. And I still don't." 

"But Peggy, what I wished most for you in the entire world was happiness," Daniel said. "And how could you truly be happy if you were struggling to open your heart and allow yourself to feel it?" 

"But none of them were you. I was afraid to fall in love again." 

"Peggy, you can love more than one person in your lifetime," Daniel said. "You deserve to be happy." 

"I didn't want to forget you," she said. 

"I don't think that would have happened," Daniel answered. "It doesn't matter how many people you love in a lifetime, but sometimes there are ones that are truly meant to be together. And those souls will always find each other, no matter what happens to them. Love is a complex emotion Peggy, I can't begin to explain it. But I just know that it seems a hell of a lot easier to understand when I'm with you." 

Peggy didn't even get a chance to answer that, because she actually saw Daniel's form fade away this time, leaving her alone in an empty house, with a lot to think about. And when her world started to go black again, as she prepared to meet her fifth and final person, she wished that she could see Daniel again, when it was all said and done. 


	5. Life

When Peggy wakes for the fifth time, she is surprised by what she sees. She knows this place too, even if she didn't really spend much time in it. Peggy felt older too, a lot older than she did around Colleen, Jack, or even Daniel. It was still a lot better than she felt before she died, but she missed the youthful feeling she felt when she saw Michael again, wondering if she would ever get it back. 

She wondered who the last person she would meet would be. A lot of people frequented the SHIELD lab, which is where she was now, surrounded by machines, abandoned water bottles and coffee mugs, and stacks of paper with scrawled writing. Peggy walked around the lab as she waited for her final person to appear, peeking at the complex blueprints left laying out of the table. 

And then she heard a voice. "Hey Peg, I was wondering when you'd get here." 

Howard Stark was standing in front of her, smiling his classic charming smile. He looked the same as when he died, with bright white hair and a matching mustache. "Howard," Peggy said, smiling. 

"You missed me, I know," he said. 

Peggy rolled her eyes. "You still haven't changed, have you?" 

"Only in age," Howard said. "Am I the last for you?" 

"Yeah," Peggy answered. "So what happens next?" 

"The next time you wake, it will be in your own heaven, and there you get to wait, for the person who you will guide. And after that, I don't know." 

"What are you here to teach me about?" Peggy asked. "You would think the last person would have something good to talk about." 

"Peg, I don't think there was ever a moment in life where you would listen to me," Howard joked. 

"That's because so many of your ideas were dangerous or irresponsible!" 

"I disagree!" 

"Name one idea that I vetoed that actually would have been a good idea." 

Howard was silent at that. "Fine," he finally said. "You're right." 

Peggy laughed. "But it's a little different now," she said. "So come on, what is it you have to tell me?" 

"More like why I have to thank you," Howard said, losing his characteristically bright smile and joking manner. "Because you did what I failed to do, so many times. You lived your life on your terms." 

"Howard, I think you are the definition of 'living life on your own terms,'" Peggy said, smiling. 

"No, Peg. I did what I wanted, yeah, but you lived, truly lived. You found happiness and you didn't allow yourself to let go of it. I spent every waking moment just chasing the next big thing, never really allowing myself to stat somewhere long enough or appreciate something long enough for it to bring me true happiness." 

"Howard, I didn't-" Peggy started to say. 

But Howard cut her off. "No Peg, you did. I struggled with everything in life I couldn't build in a lab. I pushed my own son away from a young age, and had to watch him grow into the man I used to be - the man I didn't want him to become. But you, Peggy, you didn't have to deal with that. You built an entire agency up from the ground and you were able to separate that from your personal life. My work consumed me. I was always thinking about new inventions, or fixing old ones, or being able to change the world. I felt that I couldn't offer anything important to anyone emotionally, so I could make up for that with mechanics, with machines. And I had to come to terms with that after I died." 

"Did you think that you could have prevented your death?" Peggy asked softly. "That a different car would have changed things?" 

Howard shook his head. "I didn't die in a car accident Peg," he said quietly. "It was a hit." 

"A hit? But we were told-" 

"That's because you weren't supposed to know it was a hit," he said. "And it most likely came from inside SHIELD." 

"Inside SHIELD? Then you know who it was?" 

He nodded. "Then who-" Peggy started to ask. 

"Don't worry about it," Howard cut her off. "It won't do anyone any good now." 

Something in Howard's eyes stopped Peggy from saying anything else on the topic, so she changed the subject. "Is that it then?" she asked. "Because if from my experiences with the last four people, you're about to disappear." 

"I think so," Howard said, and she could see him start to shimmer away. "You're on your own now Peg." 

***

Peggy's heaven is quiet. She opens her eyes and looks around, immediately knowing where she was. She is sitting on a lounge chair in Howard's backyard, and the sun is out. She can hear voices inside the house, and she wonders if there are people inside if she were to look. But at the same time, she just wishes to relax. 

And so she does. Peggy stays where she is and just thinks. She wonders who she will meet, and how long she will have to wait for them to arrive. She wonders what purpose she will have had in this person's life, and what she is meant to show them. 

She waits for seven years, until the year 2023. And suddenly, the gate opens and a person walks through. He looks around, and Peggy can see both memory and confusion on his face. She realizes that he must not be able to see her yet. She must be his first person.

When he does catch sight of her, Peggy offers a comforting smile. "Hi Tony," she says gently. "I guess I have some explaining to do."

_\- the end -_


End file.
